


IMPERFECT CO 



IMPERFECT COPY 



IMPERFECT COPY 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



012 608 229 % 






Conservation Resources 






LETTERS AND l<\\< TS, 
NOT BERE1 1 >l < >RE PUBLISH ED, TOUOHIfl 

THE MENTAL CONDITION 

OF 

CHARLES J. GUITEATJ 

SI NCE 1 865. 



1 THE PRESIDENT OF THE DNITE1 
MATTER OF PHE APPLICATION FOR A COMMISSION IT 



June 23d, 1882. 
CHESTEB A ARTHUR, President of the United States. 

; i . i m : 

e ie respectfully submitted for your examination. 
•i of the letter of my brother to his father, dated April 10, 1865, it 
been published. The correspondence consists : 

soville, previous to the commencement of the 
o which I indicated to him certain facts in my brother's life as 
is insanity, but which hie counsel did not introduce on the trial. 

•. liicii passed between my lather, commencing in 1865, and John H. 

ber members of the ( meida Community, concerning- my brother's life and 

tion, in which it. is distinctly stated that he then "showed signs of 

" •• was partially insane, ami would become hopelessly so," "that the form 

. was Buch that he might become at any time a sly, cunning desperado," 

- and opinions, showing that he was approaching, or 

n an insane condition for many years. 

nee concerning and from him in 1871 and 1872 when he was in 
■ ia. 

which passed between Mr. Scoville, myself, and General Butler in 
iral Butler's having charge of the defence. 
letters and papers bearing upon the questions at issue. 

i these papers could be introduced as evidence in a Court of law, 

but • i the ordinary course of correspondence clearly indicate the 

• d condition of my brother from 1805 to 1S80, and show that under proper 

proof of his insanity could have been obtained on the trial, had not 

to enter upon the most critical portion of his life and subpeened 

about him at a time when they had repeatedly pronounced him 

1 do no: extended comments or criticisms, but have submitted these 

the shortest and easiest way to present the facts they refer to. 

are a sufficient indication of what may now be proved by 

■r by properly authenticated evidence admissible before a commission 

endo, if not in a Court of law, and, consistent with good faith to the 

d all th< nvolved, fully authorize a stay of the execution of the 

upon a man who, without doubt, is permanently insane and was so 

be Bred the fatal shot of July 2, 1882. 

now do time for making an argument in writing, but 1 shall be grateful 

•ill allow me hi audience before a decision is reached, that I may 

■it of my brother's unfortunate life, which will explain much of 

liaadvantage. Wry respectfully, 

JOHN W. GUITEAU. 









October 'io. i*m. 

JOHN W. GUITEAT] TO GEOBGE 8( OVILLE. 

GEORGE SCOVHJ .i kranse] for Charles J. Guiteea 

D. C 

Deak Siu : — I have believed that Julias was morally responsible for the aasasui nation i»f Pi 
Garfield, and that he had sufficient mental capacity hi d wil strolled his foolish and 

I purpose, it' he bad bo chosen, ami thai the crime e ■ ding of his former ■ 

life. [ have alv. ted him with enough natural ability and a sound mil 

perverted by i ccesslve egotism, wilfulness, lust and lasim I little atxmt him, 

ami I may have been mistaken in my judgment <>f him. I ootioe your app e a l to the public and think it is 
just and timely, and that you and the prisoner oughl i> have the benefit ol any fmtH in hi.- favor. I an 

Willing and very glad to aid you in any way I can and to revise ni\ leav 

you whether to use my testimony or not. 

I will briefly state the |>oints to which 1 can testify, and shall he glad to v i - i t Washington and confer 

with you more fully, if you think it desirable. 

Mother died in 1848, when he was seven yean old and I md we wt .'.rat.-d. I 

never heard from him until he came to Davenport, Iowa, in 1 s •">•"> or 1856. I j. r "t him a place with a Mr. J. 
A. I'randall, music d'-aler. lie was there a short time 1 did not get alone; pleasantly with him and he 
soon went back to Freeport, Long afterwards I heard from father, that there was Borne WTOUg-dolng 
and irregularity wl. with Mr. t'rundall. 

(2) Whih he was at Oneida, 1 received two or thi - from him on religi 

were lost or destroyed. There was nothing unusual about them 1 do 
them. 

In L868, while 1 was living in Chicago, he used to come out to our bouei 
At my Bister's request I spoke to him about paying you for some two hundred dollars a'i 
was studying in your office. He said he did not owe you anything as he had s« ttled the m 
before by giving you his note for $200 (I think) which lie said you could ■ • ■;: in any bank in 

Chicago, but that you were so stubborn you would not doit. I talked with him a long ,; whim 

the fallacy of his idea that his debt v as thus paid, but could not do it, and I never had much talk with 
him afterwards, as he became very angry and said I did not treat him asa brother, etc 1 had no pat 
with him. 

(1)1 went to New York in 1869, and was two years in the Mutual Life office. While there he came 
to New York from Chicago, with a cla : m of some $1,500, I think, and said lie had secured it by chattel 
mortgage. He came to me to aid him in filling the blank. He did not seem to know how. 

(5) I think it was at this time that he told me he did not like to be called "Julius." that he abhorred 
the name ; that it was a nigger name. Niggers were called " Caasar," after Julius Cesser. The u 
tion was so fixed in his mind that it mortified him to be called J alius. I had no patience with him and 
told him so. 

(<i) I did not see him again until he came to Boston in 1878 (I think.) He had 1 man car- 

aplacardon his shoulders about thestreetl Dg hi* reply to Col. [ngersol, He called himself the 

" Hon. Charles J. Guiteau, an eloquenl Chicago Lawyer and Theologian," in handbills an<. 
cards. One day, after he been around several months, he .-ailed at the house. My daughter met him at 
the door — he announced himself as her uncle. She left him and 1 saw him in the parlor Had a long 
talk with him about his book and led I him he ought • himself as an" Honorable" 

as he was not, that it was a designation given to certain officials by B He claimed that any 

r was an " Honorable." and cited in proof that he knew a lawyer : In the 

Btate'B prison who always called himself an "Honorable." He m think that re. In 

his book he claimed that 1 Coming of Christ to the Primitive Church at the destruction of 

Jerusalem was a discovery which be had • had app 

him to reveal li rorld." I told him that he ought not to make claim to that oo very ore 

new idea of his own, or that Hod had revealed that to him, for Iih knew that he trot the idea years ago at 
Oneida Community and that it was in Mr. Noyes' book tie' " Bereaa," as well as the texts and arguments 
to prove the doctrine ; that it was a very old idea handed down tr in :'. : uiries; that even Mr 



Noyes did not claim it as original ; that his book was made up larrely of quotations and that it was a 
fraud to pretend that it was a " discovery," or a " revelation " and he knew it. He replied that he did not 
say where nor how it was a revelation, it was a revelation to tie world just the same if he did not get it 
nut ol .persons had ever seer.. He said he had had a hard time ; that he 

made nione} whi '■ to his law business ; that be expected to make $2,000.00 or $3000.00 by the 

sale of his book, that would put him on his feet anu then he would go back to the law again. We had 
a great deal of talk. He objected to my criticisms— said I talked just as father always did and he did 
not propose to stand it— that he wanted it understood that he was a "fighting man." I told him that I 
was not and thai it would be better to end our interview at once and showed him the door, slipping 
two half-dollars into his vest pocket as he went out ; which he indignantly threw back upon the floor. 

[ heard of him about town for a long while; finally people came to me about his board and I 
told them the facts. He called at the office and complained that I had meddled with his business and 
claimed that he did just as Jesus Christ did. He went to a boarding house and if they received him he 
blessed them and if not he cursed. 

- [ deal more of this sort of thing. I saw him at the office perhaps three times ; the 

last time I put him out forcibly, and have not seen him since. He was very abusive, and it seemed the 
way out. You could not make any impression on his mind by reason or kind talk, and yet he 
seemed to have sense enough outside of these lines I have mentioned. 

Fn 1872 I got a letter from Mr. Eaton, of San Francisco, stating that Julius had gotten $75 from 
him, on the pretence of a telegram announcing that his wife was at the point of death, and he had not 
money enough to pay railroad fare home by that amount. I wrote to Julius detailing circumstances, in 
a very severe letter, and he replied, denying that he had made any misrepresentation, but had got the 
money solely on his " reputation and standing as a lawyer," and added that " if Mr. Eaton had treated him 
as a white man," and not complained to me, "he would have tried to pay him long ago," and advised me 
to "drop him." I have this letter and the correspondence. It was in reply to this correspondence, 
which had been submitted to him, that father wrote me the letter of March, 1873, which had been pub- 
and in which he says that he will not be surprised if he ends in a " sly, cunning desperado." 

(10) Few know about his proposal to buy the Advance in Chicago, and his offer to elect John H. 
Addams Governor of Illinois if he would loan him $25,000 towards the $75,000 required to purchase 
the paper. Mr. Addams is dead and father also, but I presume that the men in the bank knew about it 
at the time, and would testify. 

(11) You also know about the publication of his book here ; how he went to D. Lathrop & Co., book 
publishers, with his MSS., which they rejected ; afterwards he went to Wright & Potter, printers, had 
his hook printed (1,000 copies), with " D. Lathrop & Co." on as the publishers. When they heard of it 

ent for him, and complained of his bad faith in putting their names on the book and advertising 
r their signatures. How he got 600 copies surreptitiously from the binder, and never paid for any. 
He has since, as late as June, 1881, compounded with Wright & Potter on the subject, and in the last 
letter, I think of June, 1881, promised to pay $100 on account very soon. Mr. Wright has 
the correspondence. I have never seen it. He came to me to make inquiries last year, 
and since your letter came I called on these parties, and learned the facts here given. 
I also called on Rev. H. C. Dunham, of 6 Congregational House, and got a copy of the 
red-bound book, " Truth," as you requested. I send you the copy. None of these gentlemen 
will probably testify that they thought him insane, but that he was unbalanced and " off" they have 
no doubt, He did not generally create the impression of being "insane," but a little queer, unbalanced, 
and after the transaction the final conclusion was that he was a fraud. STILL IF ALL THE CIR- 
CUMSTANCES OF HIS LIFE COULD BE GOT TOGETHER BEFORE THE JURY AND THE 
PUBLIC, IT Wo! LD BE SUCH A MESS OF UNREASONING AND SENSELESS WORK AND 
EFFORT AS TO ALMOST FORCE THE CONCLUSION OF HIS ACTUAL INSANITY. He never 
arrive. 1 at right conclusions, and his reasoning faculties were entirely at fault — the result, as I believe, 
not of any hereditary taint, for there is no tendency to insanity anywhere in the family, the cases 
being easily accounted for by self or applied abuse, and none of the insane parties ever having had 
any children. This is a mistake ; Augustus Granville Parker, whom I only knew when a boy, 
and who died in an Asylum, insane, had two children, and by no possibility could it have 
transmitted to him, Charles J., but of hip own self-centered, egotistical, willful, perverse 
and lustful life and habits. (N. B. — Father paid several bills for medical attendance for 
priva 1 - years ago and refused others, and I have no doubt that masturbation and 

self abuse is at the bottom of his mental imbecility. There is a slight chance for success in this 
line of defense, but none on the "tendency to insanity in the family," and that "father was a 
religious monomaniac.'' That claim cannot be sustained, and you must know it; and it is not in 
necessary to your case, as insanity may be acquired by anyone, and such person is just as much 
insane as if he inherited the tendency. 

il2) Father's brother, Francis W. Guiteau, (second son of Dr. Francis and Hannah Guiteau) was 
born October 5, 1800. Ee died in the Insane Asylum in N. Y. City, " December 20, 1829, at age of 29 



- month*, I5dayi 

his rival fur the band of ■ jrooog ladj H 
This Is the 

abbie Idaynard, irhom you «») 
almost, l.v ln-r father practising bis *n . - 
ease of Inhi tin I in 

for finally be died \>y bis own band under frsi | 
ii fortune. 

Qranville Parker, »a 
have thought he might hi 
ebnee, Theae two la 

Inherited anything from then anj person ma 
in that Mut.- may communicate the •• 

i tarried or bad children 
•• religion! monomaniac " tendet 
burden n e ce etar ily attaching t.. all •••• 
wherever known, the additional stigma that thi 
Happily the pretence canni 

No poealble motive for tb< stlon can 

Whether his lack was the effect of n bad lira- 
which his guiltiness hlngee. 

1 1 1 1 if 1 am put npon the itand »•< youi 
• to my father's good char and pnrii 

tendency to Insanity in the family as b< 

efited thei I thoold much ; 

but if 1 emsubpcened I shall !*• bnpartial, and 
poealble. In the li^rlit of nil 1 bare read nw\ 
reeponaibility is very much unsettled Ills moral res 

when he chose the path ol et U, rather than g 1 1 would be ■■ • 

out in legal evidence, shall convince the Court, tbi 

the horrible deed of my brother was the net of an Insane man 

(16) 1 see that yon have made the statement that my d 
had a severe attack of brain fever. I never heard <>t lb 
oldeel child, 1 think 1 should have beard <>f it it she bad - 
remembered it than my .sinter. 

(16) A man's lit"*- and thoughts changes tin- flesh llni 
countenance, hut not the bony formation ol bla bead and featun 
views taken .Inly 4th, yon will see that bis] 
but as yon follow the j •< i^it i« »n to the one-quarter front aj 
almost utter depravity or complete insanity. The 
Imbecile in attitude, pose ol the head and expi 
these views photographed to full I * f" - 
the verj dati ol the ■" 

il?i There is a prevalent and growing opinion that be was *«• f»r ;: 
think there is some chance that you maj succe* i ••■ 
a sufficient weight "f cumulative evidi 
know bow unapproachable he Is and bow Imp* 
from without, hut there mi 

ness nr loVO] put there in childhood by mother or fat 

faculties to their normal condition so tbat h< 

repent. If he is insane hi 

plainly how little hope there is of bis • scaping I 

extremities sin will bring a man. While tbe heart is ii: hsad raa 

help the \ ictim. II; -. but whrr 

conduct it only that a fair, just, ami ri^'ht. 

your conduct and appreciate thi • m which 

(forgetting past differences I am very truly 

Address l US applet 



4 

November 0, 18§1. 

JOHN W. GU1TEAU TO GEORGE SCOVILLE. 

Boston, Mass., Nov. 6th, 1881. 
GEO. SCOVILLE, Esq., WASHINGTON, U. C: 

On my return home last evening I found your letter of the 3rd hist., and also another package of 
etters from Flora, written in 1865, 1866, 1867 and 1868 by Julius and father; and by Mr. Noyes, Mr. 
Hamilton, and Mr. Burt of the Oneida Community in reference to Julius' connection with the Oneida 
Community— hie leaving and the suit lit- threatened for $9150 for (i years loss of time and interest on bis 
money. I think the whole correspondence shows that at that time he was bordering on complete insanity 
and that was the general opinion expressed by the correspondents and fully justified by the facts stated 
in the letters. The letters of Mr. Hamilton to father contain copies of letters said to have been received 
from Julius bv Mr. Noyes and Mr. F. \\ inland Smith, the originals of which I have no doubt are still 
in the hands of the Oneida Community. Of course these copies would not be evidence. If Mr. Hamilton 
is living he oughl to be Bubpoened, If not someone who has the letters. The letters which I now have» 
together with facts which 1 know personally or believe on information, leave no doubt on my mind of 
Julius' insanity. 1 would gladly send you the letters except for the believe entertained by myself and 
the familv in Freeport that you will not hesitate to use only a part of the truth to sustain your opinion 
of my father, and the fear we have of placing in your hands the complete evidence of his soundness of 
intellect, heart and judgment in matters upon which you and he were for many years at issue. 
I am in favor of having the whole truth out, and shall do nothing to screen any portion of my life or his 
if you think it necessary to your case. As the attorney for a man charged with a crime that forfeits his 
lite vnii have the right to all the facts that will tend to save him from the gallows. I have now no 
doubt of his insanity, but am sure there is only the very slightest reason for the theory of hereditary 
tendency thereto in his blood. There is nothing in the Family Bible that shows that Francis W. Guiteau 
died insane, nor anything connected with the circumstances. My father told me about it, and I put it 
down vears ago in my record of the family. I know about Abbie Maynard from father and by seeing 
her, I know something about Augustus Graneville Parker from his brother, whom I saw in Cincinnati in 
1867, and from lather. I see you have subpoened his wife. The wife of Uriah Brady Wilson (Julia 
.Maynard) lives in St. Louis, General Agent of a Life Insurance Company, or did a few years ago. Plenty 
of people in Ann Arbor will testify to her, Abbie Maynard's, imbecility and her father's suicide. As to 
father you will not establish that he was a religious "monomaniac," and for the benefit of the prisoner 
I advise you not to try it, for if you attempt to show only. a part of the truth, which I have no doubt you 
will, it will damage both you and him. I think there is abundant evidence that you intend "to pervert 
the truth one iota," in the interviews which you have repeatedly published, so worded as to create the 
impression that my father was directly responsible for Julius' abandoned life and was insane for many 
years and even up to within one year of bis death ; and also that you have neglected no opportunity to 
go outside the case to refer to my indebtedness and damage me. Julius does the same thing in his 
autobiography. You both occupy the same attitude towards father and towards me and seem to delight 
in it. I shall not avoid any issue you may raise. 

As to the " old letters," etc., as soon as I read them I notified you of their contents, having previously 
told you the truth about insanity in the family, and you immediately notified me that Mr. Robinson and 
yourself had concluded not to subpoena me. 1 supposed this conclusion was reached from the fact that, 
while this evidence I bold establishes the " insanity " of my brother almost beyond question, it dis- 
proves a good deal that you are reported to have said about the case ; shows that my father was not a 
"monomaniac" on religion or any thing else, and that the Oneida Community and all its members 
treated my brother, while he was there and afterwards, with patient forbearance and christian charity, 
according to his own written statements made after he left them. I am more than sorry at the position 
you have taken towards father, and wish I could see anything to justify a belief in your professions of 
" affection for his memory." Men who slander the dead as you have, publicly and by private letters and in- 
terviews my father, are not influenced by motives of" affection." What is the use of your making such pro- 
fesious when long before his death you had ceased to be his friend and since have not failed to cast 
reproach upon his good name, while living under cover of your professional rights and needs; and when 
a few years ago you became bankrupt you put the debts of honor due him on personal account and those 
due the bank, "f which he was cashier, into the common bag and crowded me, and advertised in your 
bankrupt notice my indebtedness in the harshest and most offensive language, with malice and hatred 
in yuur heart; while since the assassination you have gone out of the way to volunteer statements 
irrelevant and injurious to both ; his mouth being closed in death, and I being in no position to resent 
personal attacks although no longer your debtor. You are entitled on the trial to all the evidence I 
have ; you are " entitled " to nothing at any other time or place. I have written you fully and frankly 
repeatedly since you asked the public fur testimony, and have done what I could to assist you in getting 
evidence for the defence and you have abused both my frankness and offers by putting into the 



Washington Post, a scurrilous article " pei 

of all others are moat Interested in the defence, myself and m 

second wife) who most in silence bear and forbear out oi 

their positions, [f you could be satisfied i" simply show the 

duty to begin an attack on t i » . - Oneida Community for the purp 

'• monomaniac " because t.> the day oi bis deatb be believed In the • 

written in the Berean, and bad faith in the puritj of Mr Noyi 

be successful in the defence But I ihrak you will damage your os 

forth.- prisoner by arousing pnblie sentiment against the Oneida Conn 

Oneida Community for thirt] y< aothldanders bushel, and lai 

people al Freeport, Ills., where be lived f->r fortj years, bonored bim i»r ■ 

his Integrity and ability us a business man, by repeatedly placing bim 

tional and Bnandal Interest! In the county. ll>- lived ■ good lav 

on.- hundred cents on the dollar of h «l<d»t thai »»h a burden much of bis life an 

whs respected by all ^r> » ><i men for bis moral and religious courage, In s| *ppn 

hensions of Bible truths. He had the courage of bis convictions, and were bi 

.shrink from any degree of responsibility which properly attached i" bim "r I. 

crime his son has committed, nor would be ask you to stop shori 

truth. Neither do l. It is the partial manipulation thai l f<-ur when 

the plain truth from coming out so far as may \ rum 

1 want y.m to stop nowhere this side of the whok truth, or i .•■.n<k on my fathei » 

character altogether. Vou say "the Oneida Community n 

may not have i d so ; hut you know my father believed it \\ .l ,,.,t true thai ' it \»a» 

his honest conviction thai it was the only road to heaven," or "the straight and narrow way 

to eternal life;" and it is a vile slander for you to make sucb ai i late It hn>adraai 

through your interviews. Ee never lived In the Oneida Community, as many have been le 

from your statements, hut believed it to be, to us.- Ids own lang .1, and 

honest men and women, associated together for tin- purpose of edu 

and spirit, up into a true and noble * IhriBtian manhood In accordance with the ; ■ •: < hri-t ami the 

teachings of the Bible," and thai "while they beld peculiar views in relation to th< 

the sexes, they by no means countenanced or tolerated licentiousness or l< 

but, on the other hand, won- learning and seeking to elevate men ou1 of th<- corruptions that 

only in those things, but in all other particulars wherein th.-y were contaminated with sin ■ 

There may have been abuses in the practical results, and he maj have beei I, but thai 

more evidence that he was a "monomaniac" than you were when fooled f-.r several yean l>v the 

Northampton Bank Robbery woman. Thai h<- would, at one time, have joined tl.- ommunlty, 

had his family agreed to it. I presume is true, although 1 never heard it, and that he desired J.. 

become Christian at heart and join them also, no one has ever denied who knew the facts . but he 

thought it a " prerequisite to eternal life or the door of heaven." It he had.it . f his 

being a '•monomaniac," for millions of Roman < latholics entertain that idea of their < hurcb. 

Community was a religious association as much as any religious denomination, >>r the Quakers, the 

Shakers, or Dunkards ; and to claim that a man who believes SS the; iniac" 

is an absurd pretense which the Government will expose as soon as offi red you do not >| .■ 

my father's purity of life and motives, nor pretend that he w a- evei s member of the < taelda » 'ommunlty. 

He opposed Julius going there when he saw his "r. al objed was tl ■ f bis unbridled lust." 

He went thereunder father's protest . hut left when restrained. \.mr theory of | 

Julius is a very weak effort to sustain "hereditary tendency to insanity," which ■ n tli* 

Guiteau family. Julius wenl to the Oneida Community with both hi- moral and physical heall 

paired from previous excesses and wrongs, and be h-ft because he w as unable to gratify is lustful 

was required to work as the rest did. He had for years before been disobedient, wilful, egotistical . 

and I have no doubt was on the verge of insanity long before fathei i it. f<>r hi : that 

insanity was the result of sin and Satan's power, and this idea is unquestionably the teaching of the 

Bible in both Old and New Testament. < >n the practical question of Julius's tru. 

direct issue between father on one side and Julius, yourself, and wife on the Other for the lust I 

twelve years. Without much personal knowledge ol the tacts, I have sympal father 

and accepted his views regarding them. I respectfully submit that the thi 

caused by his own rebellious spirit and gross- than if bai d*l'j 

upon the presence of two or three cases of insanity in re The qui I 

If so, it matters little about tin- cans.-. Ion mi -having;: 

character and sanity are to be attacked. I must stand by my good fat: 

was always gentle, pure, true, just, and of sound mind and heart. He WSJ DO 

account of his temperament, religious'teachings, or life, for the Insanity ->r out d than «a.« 

David for Absalom's rebellion, Christ for the betrayal of Judas, or th< :i and 



fraud of Ananias and Sapphira. As far as 1 can I put away all uncomfortable feeling toward you, and 
Stent with the whole truth, desire that the best defense possible shall be made for my brother, 
because I believe lie was insane when lie committed the awful deed for which he is arraigned, and, 
under the law touching responsibility for the insane, ought not to be hung, but should be mercifully 
confined for life in an asylum where lie can do no further harm. 

His life never was, and now never ran be, of any value to himself or others. Oh ! how my heart 
aches to think of it. God help us all. I think it perfectly proper for you to show that father's religious 
news were in Bympathy for the Oneida Community, and any peculiar mental characteristics he may have 
had, tor the experts will tell you that may have had an effect on the insane issue of such parentage. But 
this view of it is quite different from yours in publishing broadcast that father was a "monomaniac." 
For thirteen years CharleB Julius has been more under your care and influence than any one else's, and 
he has, during that time been more or less antagonistic and at war with father and the Oneida Community. 
On this point a friend of my father's, whom 1 have never seen, writes ; " Nothing has been more manifest 
in Charles' career than that his life and whole nature and character were alien to that of his father, and 
to the Uuit.au blood in all his brothers and sisters," and he adds, " For Mr. Scoville to try to fasten the 
charge oi insanity upon his memory will be a crime in the eyes of (iod hardly exceeded by that of 
( lharles in killing Garfield." On account of this impression, fully warranted, 1 think by your published 
Bayings, letters and known antagonism to father, for years before he died, the family at Freeport and 
myself Lave deemed it prudent ami advisable to patiently wait until near the time of trial, and on the 
witness stand only furnish such evidence as we have, with absolute impartiality and truth. 1 have acted 
under competent advise, and the family at Freeport have deemed it best that we should be in harmony 
with each other. We Btand in the presence of a terrible calamity, which can be fully appreciated only by 
those nearest of kin to the assassin, and who bear the name of " Quiteau," which your children do not, 
thank God, and whatever others may do 1 propose that in me shall remain no spirit of bitterness, hatred, 
malice, or revenge, and shall, so tar as I can, discourage everywhere, the hellish spirit of assassination 
which seeks to destroy both the lives and the characters of the good. 

November 7th : — 

1 have accepted personal service as a witness for the government and this morning was served with 
subpoena Ducer tecum for 1(5 letters, of which I wrote you, and the family bible (see page 2 of this letter.) 
1 have now received IS other letters from Freeport and will bring them also, with or without subpoena as 
you prefer. 1 prefer to bold the originals until they are legally in the custody of the Court. Many of 
the letters are very long and I have not time to copy them this week, but if you will see that the expense 
is paid by the Government, I will furnish both yourself and Mr. Corkhill with copies in advance. I have also 
letters from several intimate friends of my mother. One of them (Mrs. Gen. John A. Clark of Kansas) 
writes, " 1 remember with great pleasure my early association with his (Julius') mother. She was a lady 
of rare intelligence and worth. I never heard she had brain fever at Charles' birth or ever. She was 
always delicate and suffered severely with neuralgia, etc. I never knew a more devoted mother — and I 
do rejoice that she and his good father are at rest and far away from the sorrows of this world." I have 
written you thus fully because I know that you cannot sustain your theory of the defense on the line 
of hereditary insanity or tendency; nor father's "monomaniac" condition of mind at any time in his 
life ; nor mother's having " brain fever." I told you this October 20th. I know it will fail to make the 
impression you expect, beeaust it is not true. I do hope you will abandon it, on my brother's account, on 
my account, on your account. You cannot afford to take any chance of failure. You have a hard case 
on account of the exalted position and character of the victim, the miserable life and character of the 
prisoner and adverse public opinion. I am willing to have my life and my father's uncovered to the bone 
and laid bare in the blazing light of truth if it is necessary that the nation and the world may know the 
whole truth about this matter, but I do not intend that the small spot of" proud flesh " shall be exhibited 
and magnified out of due proportion. I do not believe that your line of defence will be permitted when 
your associates come to learn all the facts in the case, because it is'nt tenable. No other man can have 
as much interest in this as 1 have, on account of my relationship, my name, and my business, and for this 
reason 1 feel that I am not officious in thus suggesting the only line of defence on which success is 
possible. I should like to wipe out the friction between you and me on the question of my father's 
mental soundness and co-operate heartily with you to lay all the facts before the jury and the country is 
the hope that it would be found true that my brother was really insane to the degree of irrespons- 
ibility when he shot President James A. Garfield. 1 am very truly, 

- ned) JOHN W. GUITEAU. 



October II, 1891. 

i I ;< > M T I. P. 

Bourn 
I share with you in the horror of Mr Bcoville'i theory of " I 
fatht r'* family, or blood, and if the case* you mention jit .- nil that I,. 
weak indeed, Four father I a] ■•• 

by all in the Community who knew him. Certainly, in 
never showed any sign thai be was not ofeutirely loundmind ■' 

ally aonnd mind in all that pertained to finance, to bonor I »f the 

Second National Bank of Freeport is a monument of this He baa • bntto 

worldly and materialistic minds all who believe in apt ritual religion and spiritual real I 
To the unbelieving Jews I ihrisl was a fanatio, who bad " a devil " and performed miracles with the ' 

Beelzebub. 1 do not think any fair and boneel canvas of your fathei of 

a fanatic On the contrary, it would show an boneet, persl tent effort, daring more than forty yean, to 

submit his heart and life to the contmi and inspiratl f the Spim may have 

made as all learners are apt to do but these were temporary and evaneacci I The whole 
sounded to its close in death, was a grand success of obedlenei to Him, who had ■•ailed him • 
soldier." The hardest struggle that he had was not with fanaticism, but with Uyality In his earlier 
religious life this undoubtedly was his greatest temptation it was the reactions from tl nd bis 

efforts to rise out of it, that to his enemies and perhaps sometimes to his friends had a tinge of fanat 

but no more than is common to all religious minds m such a Struggle. During the ri j ■• ■: of hi* 

life — as I knew him from the .late of my first visit to Freeport in try, and a - 

march into heart-unity with Christ, Beemed to be bis, Ton, and all who knew him in t! 
think, can testify how his life and spirit — grew in softness and sweetness, and how tender-hearted and 
loveable he hecame. For Mr. Scoville to try to fasten the charge of insanity upon bis memory will be 
a crime in the eyes of God, hardly exceeded by thai of killing Charles in Garfield. 

Your estimate of Charles J. Guiteau is substantially the same as my own I think that poasiblj 
mental and physical predisposition to wickedness may have some of it 

his mother during her pregnancy. Mrs, Scoville says, I know not with how much truth, that at that 
time hie mother had brain fever. If this is so it may be thai it furnished the vi I r the 

evil powers to produce such a lusus natures of wickedness as he bas proved himself to be, ' Sertainlj 
a condition of the mother would seriously affect her child temporarily, if not permanently, an I 
likely the latter. It would also be most likely to operate as a eking after the manner of 

mechanical science) to the hereditary prepotency of the father-life of the child. \ f this kind 

has at some period taken place ; for nothing has been more manifest in Charles' career than thai hi* life 
and whole nature and character were alien to thai <>f his father, and to the alibis 

brothers and sisters. T. I. I" 



November I, 1**1 . 

JOHN W. GUITEAU TO FLORA /.. GUITEAU. 

Dear FLORA : BOSTOH, 1 - 1 

Have you yet been able to learn from Mrs. John A. 'lark or Mrs M I". Sweet whether my 
mother had brain fever as Mr. Scoville claims? Write me who his referee in bankruptcy Fohn A. 
Rice is? And if he is the old Freeport carpenter I worked with when ■ boy Mr a I 
will know about it. Please answer at once. Since writing you I have written Mr. Scoville fully 
my views of the case and bis course on father's "Monomaniac religions tendencies" and received hi* 
reply. He evidently did intend, and so far as 1 know does still, t tether. Aft.-r giving him 

all I knew and my theory of the defence, and notifying him of the letters In my hud a 

good deal of correspondence and he has finally notified me that 1 will not be subpoBned for the di 
He asked me to send him the letter-, whioli I -hall not do. Our correspondence ha* not been unfr 
but I understand him and 1 think he does me 1 am doing what 1 can to sustain him in .-bowing that 
Julius was "insane," and let him wiggle through his " family tendency" theory a.- best he may to hi.", 
own discomfiture. I propose to stand by my father and his family at all hazard when the . 
comes. I send you to-day a copy of the Boston Truvella- with Julius 1 letters to lather of Apr 
and of November 11, lsr.r, which upset Mr. Scoviiie's theory of Juliui ri treatment by the Commu- 
nity^ and that Scoville had hard work getting hack his money, Ac 1 propose hereafter to be governed by 

my father's interests and good name before the publics and my brother's acquittal if the tacts warrant 



the claim that he was so far insane as to be irresponsible, which I am now inclined to think is the fact 
I take the position that father was a believer in Mr. Xoyes and the theology of his book the " Berean " 
to the day of his death : that lie believed the Community a body of pure-minded believers. Whether 
it was " a festering nest of freelove," as .Mr. Scoville claims, or not, my father believed it was not ; and 
on that bam only was lie willing to have gone there if his family would. But it amounts to nothing 
anyway, s<> tar as the insanity effect is concerned. He was no more responsible for Julius' life than was 
Christ for Judas' betrayal or the apostles for the deception and fraud of Anannias and Sapphira. 

Affectionately your brother, WILSON. 



Mr. Scoville's Rejection of General Butler as 

Counsel. 



October 27, 1881. 

JOHN W. GUITEAU TO GEORGE SCOVILLE. 

GEORGE SCOVILLE, Washington, D. C. Boston, October 27, 1881. 

My Dear Sik: * # I have just had an interview with Gen. Butler at his office. He says no 

man can prepare the case for trial, as it should be. inside of two or three months : — That he has profes- 
sional engagements and trials for some weeks yet that will occupy his time. I had been given the im- 
pression that the «Jeneral thought acquittal was possible ; and I thought he seemed as though he 
would make the defense, and I asked him the direct questiou — " If the case could be postponed long 
enough to enable him to prepare, and evidence of my brother's insanity could be produced, would he un- 
dertake to act as his counsel ? " He said, " Get the case postponed. I will be in Washington nest Thurs- 
day. See me there and I will give you an answer." I think he means to take the case if you want him 
to and can get it postponed. I understand he is interested in the case. He understands there is no 
money it. He lias been urged by several parties to undertake it. 

I told him I would meet him in Washington next Tuesday, If you do not approve of what I have 
done, or do not want him in the case, or it is now too late, let me know at once, so that I can save the 
needless expense of the trip. Wire me in the morning. Yours truly, 

JOHN W. GUITEAU. 



Washington, D. C, October 28, 1881. 
.1. W. fiCITEAU, Esq.: 

Dear Sir. — Yours of yesterday, in relation to Gen. Butler is at hand, It will be impossible to put 
the case over any longer. All arrangements are made for the trial, and he could not be taken into the 
case now without great discourtesy to associate counsel, and I know they would decline to serve. It is 
8 iniply impossible, in the ordinary course of things, to make a change. We will be tolerably well 
prepared. 

How can I get legal evidence of the insanity and death of the uncle in New York? 

Yours truly, GEO. SCOVILLE. 



GEN. P.. F. BUTLER, Washington, D. C. Boston, October 29, 1881. 

My DEAR SrB: On the day I had the interview with you I wrote Mr. Scoville about it, and have 
just received his reply stating that it will be impossible to get the case postponed again, and that they 
an- ready for trial on the 1 1th. Fortius reason it will not be necessary for me to meet you to-morrow in 
\N ashington, as agreed upon last week. 

I regret exceedingly that you are not to have charge of the case, for I think that under your manage- 
ment tin- facts in the case would secure an acquittal on the ground of insanity, and thus relieve the 
country and my family from much of the odium which otherwise attaches to the assassination. I thank 
you for your attention and the interview given me. Very truly, 

JOHN W. GUITEAU. 



31 

ought to hang, sa/ra or insane. The law, ae oxecuted at Washii let him be 

hung," for the jury said he was "sane." He he \ patriot and did « 

right miller an inspiration of the Deity. He itndoubtedlj belie 1 1 

die in vindication of the truth of what he has done '• man." I' 

astonishing Bpectacle, and will puzzle students "t" tin- human mind and "<»ul l< 

lie is gone. I 'I" not think tin- people will i/h rid of the <i that surround t li i^ 

man's taking nil'. The more they know of tin- trutli about him the n will 

wonder and doubt. Affectionately, J. W. 01 M 1. \ I 



Jane 20. 1 »»»>•.». 
JOHN W. GUITEAE T< I OH \i;i.l 8 Gl ITEA1 

M v DBAB BrOTHBB : 

1 suppose the failure to obtain from Judge Bradley the writ of rishoss Corpus, which Mr Reed 
applied for yesterday, will end the efforts made in yourbehall I lav I have never ha 

hope from the legal proceedings aol any for some time p Hi m hla 

application for assistance tu defray expenses. At thai time I « 1 i ■ i DOt lia 

I think the only hope, for a long time, has been, and la now. from the medical men 

in your behalf. 11 I know about their action is what I have read in the Bo '"n //■ raid of Sunday It 

has seemed to me best that 1 should remain quiet and keep out of tl. ithing 

whatever to do with anything that was done in your behalf , because my ad 

prejudice your ease and impair the etl'eet of disinterested action. I prefer now to do whatever I may , 

not connected with any other persons or Interests. Whatever your impressions may be, I ■■ 

know that I feel towards you as a brother and a friend, and shall, in the *h"rt Ume remaining, do all I 

can to save your life, in the only direction in which there lias ever, in my opinion, I .•-•- 1> ai 

hope. Humanly speaking, the chances are very few. Hut God knows beat, and fail will will not 

fail, and whatever that is we know will be right. I infer from an article which I saw in a Cincinnati 

paepr some time ago that you have not heeu able to ^.-t your appeal to the Pi 

Washington all of next week. If you have prepared anything for the President, if yon will forward it 

to me here or keep it until I see you in Washington, 1 will »<■>• that it is delivered, a 

wishes and directions. 

You may expect to see me next Sunday. If any delay occurs it will only be in your Interest! and I 
will notify you. 

I am glad you are remaining loyal to your convictions. It is josl a-> I knew it would !>•• Thi 
great change in best public opinion towards you, but the masses and the newspapers are yet unmoved 
God grant it may go on in time to stop the wrong decreed by the Courts of law, 

Faithfully your Brother, WWBQH 

To this no reply has been received at this date, June 24, I v ^-. 

.1. W G 



32 



PRESIDENT ARTHUR: 

Mr. Reed has just informed me that Justice Bradley has denied my application 
for a Habeas Corpus. I am somewhat surprised, as it would seem to be contrary 

tO LAW. 

Before Mr. Reed came I had just finished a long talk with our mutual and very 
dear friend the Rev. Dr. Hicks. I desire him to express to you my views and feelings 
as tn my position. 

I am entitled to a full pardon; but I am willing to wait for the public to be 
educated up to my views and feelings in the matter. In the mean time I suffer in 
bonds as a patriot. 

I have concluded to acquiesce in Mr. Reed's suggestion that you respite me until 
January, so the case can be heard by the Supreme Court in full bench. 

I understand public opinion is changing in my favor, and by January it may be 
.-till further enlightened as to my inspiration. 

I am willing to die for my inspiration, but it will make terrible reckoning for you 
and this nation. I made you, and saved the American people great trouble. And 
the least you can do is to let me go ; but I appreciate your delicate position, and 
I am willing to stay here until January, if necessary. 

I am God's man in this matter. This is dead sure. 

In Saturday's Star., I ;p.ublished a poem on " God's ways," to which I call your 
critical attention. It is true,-every word, so help me God. 

With great respect, very sincerely and cordially, 

CHARLES GUITEAU. 
United States Jail, Washington, D. C, June 19, 1882. 



I. K. Lbbs, Book and Job Printer, 169 & 170 Fulton Street, New York. 



LIBRARY OF CON 



012 608 2: 



Comerwrttaii Rewwtt* 
LirFre«» Type I 
Ph 8.5, Buffered 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



I II I 

012 608 229 % 



